Market Inches Higher as Investors Await Jobs Data

By The Associated Press

Feb. 4, 2016

Stocks posted modest gains on Thursday as investors awaited Friday’s jobs report, which could offer insight into the state of the United States economy and help determine whether the Federal Reserve raises interest rates again next month.

Many contend the likelihood of another rate increase in March has faded because of recent signs of weakness in the global economy. The dollar has moved lower compared with other currencies, a welcome change for United States exporters whose overseas sales have been hurt by the appreciation of the dollar in the last year and a half.

Stocks oscillated between gains and losses, and got some traction in the last few hours of trading. Industrial and materials companies were among the biggest gainers, helped by a weaker dollar.

Investors were getting ready for Friday’s payroll numbers. Economists surveyed by FactSet forecast that United States employers created 200,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent.

In the last few weeks, investors have scaled back expectations that the Fed would continue raising interest rates because of signs that the global slowdown in growth is beginning to hurt the American economy.

On Wednesday, a private survey found that the service sector grew in January at the slowest rate in nearly two years. Fed funds futures, securities that allow investors to bet on which way the Fed will move interest rates, are indicating that the next best chance the Fed will raise rates is not until early 2017.

“The market is starting to price in a small chance of recession, not some realistic chance, but enough of a chance to give investors pause and reposition,” said Khoa Le, a leader of a derivatives trading desk at Credit Suisse.

Diminished expectations of an increase in interest rates have continued to weaken the dollar. The euro rose 0.9 percent to $1.1203 while the dollar fell 1.1 percent against the Japanese yen to 116.75 yen.

Mr. Le said the large move in the dollar in recent days was partly related to a great unwinding of positions by large investors and companies that might hold significant amounts of cash overseas.

Many investors were “buying into this thesis of a strong dollar,” he said. “Now that the Fed is less likely to raise rates, we are seeing clients reposition.”

Government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.85 percent from 1.88 percent.

In other company news, the social network LinkedIn said it finished last year with better-than-expected financial results, but it offered a weak forecast for 2016 that sent the company’s stock plunging more than 25 percent.

Earnings and revenue at LinkedIn beat Wall Street’s estimates for the fourth quarter of 2015, but the company still reported a loss of $8.4 million, compared with a $3 million profit a year earlier. And it issued a forecast that was far below what analysts were expecting.

The mobile video camera maker GoPro plunged 93 cents, or 9 percent, to $9.78 after the company reported a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss. GoPro shares were down 46 percent in 2016.

Viacom rose $1.11, or 2 percent, to $48.68 after the company announced that its 92-year-old majority shareholder, Sumner Redstone, was stepping down as executive chairman to be replaced by its chief, Philippe Dauman.

It was an usually quiet day for energy commodities, which for several days had wild swings. Benchmark United States crude edged down 56 cents to $31.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract jumped 8 percent on Wednesday in New York.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oil prices, fell 58 cents, to $34.46 a barrel in London.

Other energy commodities were mixed. Heating oil rose less than a penny, to $1.081 a gallon; wholesale gasoline rose 1.5 cents, to $1.0284 a gallon; and natural gas fell 6.6 cents, to $1.972 per thousand cubic feet.

In metals, gold rose $16.30, to $1,157.60 an ounce; silver rose 11.6 cents, to $14.85 an ounce; and copper rose 3.7 cents, to $2.1315 a pound.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B8 of the New York edition with the headline: Moderate Gains on Wall St. as Investors Await January Jobs Report. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe